Visual narratives and the tourist gaze: Foreign tourists’ perceptions of rural Iran

Qeidari, Hamdollah Sojasi, Seyfi, Siamak, Soleymani, Zahra, Sthapit, Erose ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1650-3900 and Senbeto, Dagnachew Leta (2024) Visual narratives and the tourist gaze: Foreign tourists’ perceptions of rural Iran. Tourism and Hospitality Research. ISSN 1467-3584

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Abstract

Photo-taking is frequently hailed as a powerful instrument for both consuming and constructing the tourist experience. This study, grounded in tourist gaze theory, aims to explore how foreign tourists create narratives and interpret rural landscapes in Iran through their photographic images. By analyzing visual representations shared on Flickr, a popular platform for travel photography, the research identifies key narratives that influence the construction and negotiation of the tourist gaze in these images. The findings offer new theoretical and practical insights into how visual storytelling shapes tourists’ perceptions and narratives especially in the frequently underrepresented rural settings of the Global South.